Chile Food Seafood ~ Pictures Chilean Fish Shellfish
marisco, clams, shrimp, scallops, Mercado Central Santiago
With most of Chile close to the Pacific, a favorite Chile food seafood -- including shellfish (marisco), shrimps, scallops, clams, sea bass, and the very tasty conger eel (congrio) -- is almost always bought and served fresh.
In Santiago, I had a fresh and fabulous sea bass for lunch at the Mercado Central (Central Market). On the Pacific coast, in Vina del Mar, we drove north along the Bay of Valparaiso to lunch at the town of Renaca (pronounced ren-YAK-ah in Spanish) at a popular seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean.
In Patagonia, in Puerto Natales, I again had congrio, this time at El Maritimo, a seafood restaurant right on the waterfront. When it comes to food from Chile, the dining is very, very good! As well as fresh seafoods, leave room for traditional cazuela and marraqueta and pebre, unusual fruits. If you find yourself looking for traditional Chilean foods in Santiago, try the El Hoyo restaurant, and have a coffee at Cafe Haiti.
Mercado Central, Santiago Chile seafood, fresh fish market 
The Mercado Central is located three blocks north of Plaza de Armas in Santiago Centro, an easy walk for most sightseers in the plaza.
This large market offers a wide variety of fish and shellfish on ice. Nearby, a separate area is given over to seafood restaurants and, across the Puente Cal y Cantro and the Rio Mapocho, you'll find the La Vega Central vegetable and fruit market.
Mercado Central is open 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 6 am-8 p.m. on Fridays, and 6 am-6 pm on Saturdays. On a map, look for Santiago Centro, then the mercado, north from the University of Chile.
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Chile Seafood and Dipping Sauces 
El Encanto de Renaca (ren-YAK-ah) is a beachfront seafood restaurant in the coastal community of Renaca, just north of Vina del Mar, Chile. It seems a popular spot for tour buses from across Chile and from Argentina and Brazil.
We special-ordered a seafood sampler so both my guide and I would be sure we were referring to the same seafood when assigning it a name.
This seafood platter was served with a selection of three sauces: Mayonnaise (yellow); American dressing (red color is called French dressing in North America); and a dark sauce that I cannot identify.
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Marisco (shellfish) Shrimp, scallops, clams, squid seafood sampler 
Clockwise, from top (red):
camarones - shrimp
centollas - King crab legs
machas - razor clams (the six ear-shaped pieces)
ostiones - scallops (the entire inner scallop, not just the white muscle)
crab - scoop of flaked crab
locos - abalone (white slices fanned along left edge)
calamar - squid (mound under the lemon slice)
cholgas - big musssels (dark mound in center); choritos are mussels
almejas - clams (left of mussels)
Close up of Chile seafood
machas (razor clams, left) and locos (abalone, right)
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